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Tag: insurance help

AJR is honored to receive another 5 STAR Better Business Bureau Review. We feel fortunate when clients can locate us and put us to work as their advocate.

As LG says, “On my own, I was offered $2,000 to complete the repairs (which was honestly insulting and almost bordered on criminal) but when AJR stepped in, they were able to increase the final settlement amount of my claim from $2,000 to $162,000. Yes, you read that, right!”

Will you be able to rebuild if your home or business is damaged or destroyed by a fire? How long will it take you to bounce back if you are wiped out by a flood or hammered by a monsoon? Will you recover quickly from the losses you suffer from vandalism or theft?

You might be unpleasantly surprised more than once if tragedy strikes where you live or work – first by the brutal force of Mother Nature and later by the realization that you are unprepared to do anything but accept whatever compensation your insurance company offers. You can avoid this problem by hiring a public insurance adjuster, a person with the knowledge and experience to help you obtain the most favorable settlement possible – someone who represents you and not your insurance company.

“We serve as an advocate for the policyholder, but it’s important to remember that the policyholder controls the settlement. We advise and assist.” said Bruce Horowitz, president of AJR Public Adjusters, who has been serving homeowners and businesses for over 30 years, the last 4 being here in Arizona.

In addition to estimating how much damage has been done, AJR also helps file the paperwork to complete the claim and negotiate with the insurance company. There is no up front retainer type cost like an attorney, for their services, AJR charges its clients a percentage of the settlement.

Horowitz can offer his clients the advantages of a wealth of training and more than 30 years as a public insurance adjuster. He and his wife Stacy, who serves as vice president of AJR, moved their family to Phoenix following Bruce’s lengthy career, first with one of the largest and oldest public insurance adjusting firms in the Philadelphia area, then in Charleston, South Carolina.

Stacy, who handles the marketing and accounting for AJR, has another important job that is critical for the property owner – determining exactly what was lost or damaged.

“We take hundreds or sometimes even thousands of pictures,” she explained. “We document everything, then we send it to the client for approval.”

Bruce Horowitz cautioned homeowners and businesspeople to hire only public insurance adjusters who are licensed in the states where they do business. Also to be wary of people claiming to be in a position to negotiate with the insurance company. Only a licensed Public Insurance Adjuster has this authority, not your contractor, mitigation specialist, handyman, etc.

AJR is unique as they are one of a few companies who are a member of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) with an office in Arizona. NAPIA is a 60 year old organization that sets the standards for the industry and offers its members educational opportunities and certification in various aspects of the business.

To find out more about how AJR Public Adjusters, Inc. can help you recover from a natural disaster or other property loss by helping you obtain an equitable settlement from your insurance company, call (602) 795-5227, email info@betterclaimresults.com, or visit www.betterclaimresults.com

Many times we have heard about adjusters telling policyholders they plan to “sister” a joice to repair a damaged property. This means they are leaving a charred piece and prop it up with a new piece of framing. The example below illustrates why this is not an acceptable answer to a damaged frame for a property.

Q

We are a public adjusting firm. Our client’s home is insured on an independently filed HO 00 03 05 01.

A recent fire did much damage to the home. Part of that damage was the charring of the framing. Instead of replacing the charred framing members, the insurer wants to use a technique called “sistering.” This technique involves leaving the charred piece in place and installing a new piece next to it. The adjuster says that sistering is an acceptable means of repair and refuses to actually replace the damaged framing.

We have enclosed a copy of the policy for your perusal.

California Subscriber

A

The policy you sent is worded differently from the ISO policy. The ISO homeowners policy promises to replace damaged building property with “material of like kind and quality and for like use.” It makes no mention of how this is to be done. It does not place any limitations on construction methods to be used. The ISO policy would pay to replace the charred timbers with new ones.

On the other hand, your client’s policy says that it will repair or replace the damaged property “with construction techniques and materials commonly used by the building trades in standard new construction.”

“Sistering,” as we understand it, means that the damaged frame is propped up by the timber fastened next to it. The adjuster may be correct in that this technique is an accepted means of structure repair—repair of an existing structure. However, the policy calls for the use of “common construction techniques and materials used by the building trades in standard new construction.” By definition, sistering could not be a technique used in new construction.

The wording of the policy has committed the insurer to replacing the frame members with new pieces.